March of the Living Update: Tuesday May 7
Dear BU Wheelock Community,
The purpose of my trip to Poland with other Law School and Education School deans from around the country was to explore ways in which Holocaust and Hate can/should be part of the curriculum of future human development and legal professionals. I look forward to exploring this with you in the future.
Our last visit was to the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery. This Cemetery is a massive area with headstones dating back hundreds of years. It also includes a mass grave of more than 85,000 Jews killed in the Warsaw ghetto. I have attached a few photos. One that shows trees growing the cemetery. These trees were not planted here, but rather volunteered. You can see how deep the forest and the headstones go.
The sewer grate with the Star of David is important because it was a way in which children traveled in and out of the ghetto to bring food in. The caloric intake provided for Jews in the ghetto was as low as 180 calories (think half a bagel). Children, who didn’t have armbands until after the age of 10, were often used to steal food to bring in to help people who were starving.
Finally, I point out the memorial to Janusz Korczak, a teacher who ran a orphanage in the ghetto. It is said that he carried his children into the gas chamber and they died together. He is known for giving everything to the children he served.
Thank you reading these posts,
David
